Floodwaters drive new gold rush in California - NBC News

[TexasTowelie]

A winter of rain and mountain snow uncovered a modern day gold rush in California. NBC News’ Steve Patterson joined a team hoping to strike it rich and learned it’s no easy money.

[YoshidaYui]

1. I'm in the wrong business

many Chinese were involved in the gold rush days,,,

[TexasTowelie]

2. Go get yourself some sunlight and play in the water,

perhaps catch a nice buzz along the way to help pass the time.

Unfortunately, I'd want to play too much and not get anything done for it to be a profitable experience for me.

[3Hotdogs]

3. It's fun. But it ain't easy. I tried my hand at Sutter's Mill.

First thing --- that water is cold. And if you're in waders like the guy in the video, your feet get cold real fast and there's no way to warm 'em up.

I would guess that the on pan held around $200 of gold. So it is possible. But the to participate -- unless you find a large nugget, you ain't gonna get rich.

BUT --

The "mother lode" is still somewhere in the Rockies.

[pfitz59]

4. I grew up in Placerville (Old Hangtown)

found plenty of gold, in small quantities. Lots still in the ground. Heavy rains and flooding will move it into streams. The deep mines all shut down and flooded during WW 2 closure. Large-scale mining is stymied over environmental concerns, even hobby prospecting is severely restricted. But it is exciting to see pay-dirt.

[Beatlelvr]

5. First of all

I hope this doesn't bring even more folks to California.
But I 've been to that hardware store. It's facinating! You can easily spend an hour there, and yes, it's been there since the 1850's I think.